Reviews

Bigamy

Everyone deals with sadness in their own way. Some people follow the fake it til you make it happiness path. Some people bury their sadness under many layers of denial, overcompensation and booze. Others wallow, marinating in misery until their pain dissolves into the pool sad songs in which they've sat. For those people, I give you Tim Kasher.A talented artist to be sure, Kasher clearly specializes in what I lovingly refer to as "music to slit your wrists to." A musician who can so regularly deliver the sort of heartstring-pulling tunes that Kasher brings is rare. When that musician is also so entertaining that listeners are able to keep their hands off the straight edge, double word score. Kasher scores on both, with adorable results.At the perfectly intimate Schuba's in Chicago, Kasher kicked off the tour for his latest EP, Bigamy: More Songs From the Monogamy Sessions on August 18. Coming so soon after his debut solo album, The Game of Monogamy, Kasher met a friendly, welcoming audience that was eager to hear his new material.However, it was "Album of the Year," the first song of the so-called encore, that got the biggest and best response. The tune, taken from Kasher's time in The Good Life, is beautiful. The lyrics are painful. The crowd wanted it. And Kasher nailed it.Kasher's unique ability to entertain through genuinely bittersweet experiences and lyrics played perfectly to the crowd, who is surely already looking forward to for his next trip to Chicago.